Miss Keeper
by rstarbreeze
Summary: Jack hopes for a good night of rum, cards and women in Tortuga and returns home with more then he bargained for.
1. Prologue

            Captain Jack Sparrow walked down his favorite street in Tortuga.  With a bottle of rum in hand and a purse full of shillings in his pocket, he was looking forward to a relaxing night of cards, women and more rum.  As he came to the corner a man yelling caught his attention.

"Come pick one of these lovely wenches, gents!  Here's one from the Virgin Islands.  She may not be a young lass, but she know her ropes if you know what I mean!"  The man winked at the crowds.  "I ask you, is any man willing to pay ten shillings for her?"  Jack whistled under his breath.  Ten shillings for a wench?  She must be the best in the islands.  Jack looked through the crowed.  No man stepped up.  He looked up at the girl.  He couldn't see her face properly in the night but he could tell she was looking close to tears.

"I'll take her!"  Jack moved up to the man and handed him ten shillings from his purse.  "Come on, love."  The woman looked at him with a bit of distaste.

"You must sign this first."  The man handed him a piece of paper.

"Eh?"  Jack squinted at the paper but couldn't focus on the words.  He signed his name and handed it back to the man who handed it to the woman who signed it herself.  She gave the paper back to the man who signed it and wrote a few words on it and was about to hand it to Jack again but seemed to think better of it and gave it to the woman.

"All set then?"  Jack asked.

"Yes."  She replied.

"All right then.  Let's go."


	2. Miss Darcy Keeper

            Jack woke up after a fine night in Tortuga as the sun slid though his window and onto his eyes.  He made a face and rubbed the grit away.  Why did morning have to come so early?  By now Jack was used to waking up with a hang over and knew he had to go relieve Anna Marie from the wheel.  As he went to get dressed something held him down in his bed.  Jack turned over and came face to face with a woman.  He knitted his brow and tried to remember where she had come from.  Ah yes, he had bought her for the night at a prostitute auction.

"Miss, are you awake?"  The woman opened her eyes and sighed.

"I hoped it was a nightmare.  No such luck for me, I suppose."  She removed her arm from Jack's chest and sat up.

"Well the night's over so you can be going now."  Jack stood from the bed and started to dress but the woman was staring at him.

"What do you mean 'go'?"

"I'll no longer be needing your services.  You can go home."

"You were drunker then I thought.  Don't you remember?"  She gapped at him.

"Yes, yes.  I bought you for the night at a whore auction.  I must say, you were very expensive, but worth it, from what I can remember."  He leered at the woman.

"Pig!  I am not a whore!  You bought me at a bride sale."  Now it was Jack's turn to stare.

"What?"

"We're married, Mr. Sparrow."

"Says who?"  The woman turned, reached over the edge of the bed and produced a piece of paper.  Jack was never the best reader, but he knew enough to realize it was a marriage contract with his, her and a priest's signatures on the bottom.  "Well.  I, um."

"My name's Darcy Keeper.  If you want to know."  Darcy scooted off the bed and began dressing.  "Damn it!"

"What's wrong now, love?"  Jack asked as he finished dressing.

"My skirt is still wet from last night."

"What happened last night, besides the obvious?"  Darcy blushed and bowed her head.

"I'm a bit afraid of heights and while I was climbing the ladder to board the ship, I fell into the water."

"I guess grace is out of the question for one of your virtues."  Jack went to his chest of drawers.  "Here, you can wear my extra breeches."  Darcy looked insulted.

"I am a woman!  That would be unseemly."  Jack laughed at her.

"You're on a pirate ship, Miss Keeper, your idea of unseemly is about to change.  You either wear these breeches, your wet skirt, or you go with out."  He tossed the pants onto the bed.  "Welcome to the Black Pearl."  With that, Captain Jack Sparrow walked out the door.


	3. Way Up High

Darcy stared after the man.  It looked like Lady Luck had abandoned her.  But that had happened a long time ago so she wasn't surprised.  She looked at the breeches for a long time.  Finally she picked them up and held them against her waist.

"How do these things work?"

Jack was starting to sober up with the help of time and the sea air.  He gazed at the ocean and hummed a tune under his breath as he stood at the wheel.  It had been about fifteen minutes since he left the strumpet in his quarters and assumed she was hiding.  

"Morning, Captain."

"Good morning, Mr. Gibbs.  Do you remember last night?"

"Not at all, so it must have been good."  The men laughed then stood in silence for a few minutes.

"Mr. Gibbs?"

"Yes?"

"I have a confession."

"I'm not a priest, Jack."  Mr. Gibbs chuckled.

"I want you to hear this."

"Alright, what seems to be the problem, Captain?"

"Her."  Jack nodded his head towards the other side of the deck.  Mr. Gibbs turned and saw a woman walking towards them.  She was average height, had a sturdy build, sturdier then Jack normal choices, her skin was tanned from days in the sun and she had hair the color of dead grass.  

"You brought a woman back to the ship without telling us?  Well, we'll just have to keep her until we dock next.  You should've told us so we could've booted her off before setting sail."  Mr. Gibbs turned back to Jack.  "We could just throw her overboard."

"We can't just get rid of her."

"Why not?"

"We're married."

"When did that happen?  You never mentioned that before.  Did you find her in your ten years wandering?"

"No.  I thought I was buying a whore for the night last night at an auction and it ended up being a bride sale.  We've a contract and everything and she doesn't seem keen on returning home."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a few day's sail from here."  The woman had finally reached them.  She stuck out her hand to Mr. Gibbs.  The man shook it.

"I'm Mr. Gibbs.  You may call me Mr. Gibbs."

"I'm Darcy Keeper, you can call me Darcy."

"So, our Captain married you last night."

"Yes he did."  Jack sighed and leaned on the wheel.

"Love, if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not exactly marriage material.  Now, why don't you just tell me where you're from and we'll take you back." 

"I can't tell you."  Jack seemed to consider this.

"All right.  You're on lookout duty."

"What do you mean?"  Jack pointed.  Darcy turned and saw he was pointing towards the mast.

"What do you mean?"  Darcy repeated.

"Look up."  Darcy looked up and saw the crow's nest.  

"That's very high up."

"That's a good observation.  Now, here's the spy glass.  Climb on up."

"Up there?"

"That's where the look out sits."

"But, it's high."

"Yes it is.  Nothing gets past you, eh, love?  Now, climb on up."  Darcy spun on the man.

"You know I'm afraid of heights.  Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because, this is a ship; no one gets a free ride.  You can be the look out until I think of a different job for you."

"But-"

"That was an order from your Captain, Ms. Keeper.  Those who object such orders are thrown overboard."  Mr. Gibbs warned her.  Darcy bit her lip.  After a moment she snatched the glass from Jack's hand and stalked towards the mast.  After a minute's hesitation she gripped the ladder.  It took her five minutes to reach the top, and many men laughing at her, while she clung on to the post for dear life and inched upwards.  Once she reached the bucket at the top she sat down on the floor of it and bent her head between her legs, trying not to throw up.

"I can do this."  Darcy lifted the spyglass to her left eye and peered out over the water.  She saw nothing.  Nothing but a lot of blue.  It was actually a bit calming.  Maybe she wasn't afraid of heights.  Maybe she was just afraid of falling from heights.  Darcy looked down from her sturdy perch in the nest.   The sight of the deck so far below made her stomach lurch and she found herself biting back bile.  Nope, definitely afraid of heights.


End file.
